Character Development- The Personality Test

This weekend I worked on an outline for a new series. Originally, it was just going to be a short, but the story has grown into more than just one book. So now, in order for me to write the short, I need to plan out the series. Yeah. It's a bit of a project. Not one I was planning, but I'm very excited about it. 

Which is why I need to do it right. I may only be writing a short for now, but if I want this to be the beginning of a series, then I have to know everything about my characters. What are their secrets? What are their habits; good and bad. What is their history? What is their motivation? I already know what the characters look like, how they interact with each other. But, in order for my story, and ultimately my series to be consistent, I need to know what makes each of them tick.

So I took a personality test as my FMC and MMC, separately, to find out their personality types. The results were consistent with what I had imagined for each character, but none the less, fascinating. It's too early to go into too much detail about the story or series, but I will reveal the results of the personality tests.

My heroine came back with a INTJ, also known as The Architect or The Mastermind. According to http://www.16personalities.com/intj-personality, "People with the INTJ personality type are imaginative yet decisive, ambitious yet private, amazingly curious, but they do not squander their energy." According to http://www.truity.com/personality-type/intj, "Although INTJs aren’t usually warm or particularly gregarious, they tend to have a self-assured manner with people based on their own security in their intelligence. They relate their ideas with confidence, and once they have arrived at a conclusion they fully expect others to see the wisdom in their perceptions. They are typically perfectionists and appreciate an environment of intellectual challenge." Yep, that is her.

My hero came back with ENTP, also known as The Visionary or The Debater. According to http://www.16personalities.com/entp-personality, "Taking a certain pleasure in being the underdog, ENTPs enjoy the mental exercise found in questioning the prevailing mode of thought, making them irreplaceable in reworking existing systems or shaking things up and pushing them in clever new directions." According to http://www.truity.com/personality-type/ENTP, "ENTPs are typically friendly and often charming. They usually want to be seen as clever and may try to impress others with their quick wit and incisive humor. They are curious about the world around them, and want to know how things work. However, for the ENTP, the rules of the universe are made to be broken." I can't wait to write him.

I love it. These tests tell me what I know, but also what I haven't even thought of yet. They give me a chance to round out the characters. This is the first time I have taken a personality test as one of my characters, but it won't be the last.
This project is where my love of history and researching locations will come in to play. It will also test my organizational skills. But that's a different blog post.

Have you ever taken a personality test for yourself? Have you ever used one to assist in your character development? Did the results surprise you?

Come find me online at www.jennifersenhajiauthor.com

5 Tips To Keep Your Writing Consistent

I've been working on the sequel to my debut novel, Sweet Dreams, and in doing so, my outline has become much more complex. I have to keep track of my main characters and my secondary characters, as well as my time line. When writing a sequel, it's important to make absolutely sure you have total recall of the timeline and characters from the first novel.

I am about 2/3 done with my sequel and feeling very good about it. But as I was going to sleep the other night, after an evening of writing, socializing on Facebook and Twitter, and scrolling through pictures on Pinterest, a picture that I pinned on my WIP board for one of my secondary characters came rushing back to mind. I sat up in bed and realized that I had completely forgotten about an important character I introduced in the very beginning of my sequel. Ah schnookies!

There's a reason for the character, he has his own story line that runs parallel to the main story, and I completely forgot about him. I left him behind, not to be heard from again. Oops.

Well, obviously I missed a few important points in my outline, that need to be fixed immediately.  Here are some tips to keep your writing consistent.

1. Outline- It's so important to outline in order to keep your plot organized. It's okay to make revisions as you write, but the outline will keep you on track. If you are a panster, and can't fathom creating an outline before writing, make sure as you write, you create your outline of the plot so far, so you can keep track of the plot and events. That way you can go back and reference what has happened in your story without having to read the whole thing from beginning to end.

2. Cast of Characters- Keep a document or list of all your characters and how they are related to each other. It will help you keep the relationships straight and keep you from forgetting anyone.

3. Keep a Timeline- It's important to know the timeline of when your story takes place, not only for setting, but for the plot. For example, you don't want your characters enjoying a hot day at the beach, when compared to the elapsed time of your story, it should be the middle of winter. This also applies when keeping track of people ages. In real life, I may be able to turn 33 for several years in a row, but your characters will age.

4. Fact Check- Make sure you check your facts. This does not only apply to historical fiction. Is your story set in a real city? Make sure the streets and towns are geographically correct. If you are writing a scene that includes a reference to a real place, time or event, make sure to make notes to go back and fact check during the editing process, so that you don't have your characters walking 50 miles from one place to the other, when you really only wanted them to walk 5.

5. Beta Readers- Make sure you have at least 2-3 beta readers, they will help you search out those inconsistencies and keep your writing on track.

Now I need to follow my own advice, and go reinsert my missing character into the appropriate chapters.

What are your tips to keep your writing consistent? Do you have a tips you can share? I would love to hear them.

Don't forget to attend the Cover Reveal Bash on November 4th on Facebook, for the Writing Wenches Holiday Anthology, Unwrapping Love. My holiday short, Angels in Disguise, is one of the romances featured in this amazing collection.

Jennifer Senhaji
Stalk me online at: www.jennifersenhajiauthor.com